Monday, June 27, 2005

Karl Rove Peeks out of his Hole

The Puppetmaster spoke. The Man Behind the Curtain poked his head out. He took time away from his scheming and manipulating to give an interview. As we all know by now, he said “Liberals saw the savagery of the 9/11 attacks and wanted to prepare indictments and offer therapy and understanding for our attackers. Conservatives saw the savagery of 9/11 and the attacks and prepared for war.”

He had to say something. Bush’s poll numbers keep slipping, and the Downing Street memos have finally broken through the mass media’s wall of silence. The story is no longer relegated to page 41 of the Saturday paper that nobody reads. It was time for some serious damage control.

As stupid and insulting as Rove’s comments were, he provided a sort of tension release. When there’s a long-simmering silent fury and tension that’s been building up and it finally erupts into a shouting match, there’s almost a feeling of relief.

Everyone knows this is what Rove thinks. It’s what millions of people think: liberals are just these starry-eyed wackos who live on tofu, hug trees and think terrorists and criminals need to be coddled. Or there’s the more generous description: well-intentioned but fuzzy-headed.

Personally I don’t hate Rove for what he said; I hate him because of his shameless manipulation and molding of public opinion. OK, I really hate him because he’s so F#@%&$! good at what he does. Goddamnit, the Democrats need someone like that. All the Democrats get is Frasier Crane running for president, backed by an inept campaign manager who must have flunked Journalism 101.

Republicans get an empty suit posing as “somebody I’d like to go have a beer with,” backed by the shrewdest, most brilliant mastermind since Joseph Goebbels.

Conservatives are easier than liberals to galvanize in large numbers. According to the stereotypes, conservatives always vote, come rain, sleet, blizzards, earthquakes, you name it. Liberals might vote if it’s nice out, they aren’t too stoned and there’s nothing on the tube. They also don’t jump into high gear by the millions when someone yells out the right slogan or buzzword.

Right after the 2004 election I posted in a political forum that the Left needs a hot-button issue that would motivate millions of liberals to organize and vote, but I couldn’t think of what that issue would be. The consensus on the forum was that liberals think things through and then make a decision, rather than snapping to attention at the sound of a buzzword. Of course it’s better to be motivated by thought processes rather than kneejerk reflexes, but it’s a disadvantage when faced with millions of opponents whose buttons get pushed so easily and predictably.

So go ahead and be pissed at Karl Rove for insulting half of America. But more importantly, be on the lookout. Watch your back. The more publicity there is about the Downing Street memos, the more desperate the Right will become. Every minute that Rove spends giving interviews and making speeches is a minute that he’s not working behind the scenes, dreaming up new gimmicks and tactics.

That’s what he does best. Get ready for some all-new hot-button issues to galvanize the Right, and wedge issues to divide the Left. He’s gonna come up with some doozers. Count on it.

19 Comments:

I think Bush may actually be seeing what a "lame duck" his presidency is beginning to resemble, and having to deal with that reality, he will be pulling out all the stops to push the rest of his agenda down the throats of an already gagging public. As to what Rove had to say, I feel that most Americans bekieve as I do, when attacked, or given proper and truthful motivation, sometimes war is the only option. Lies and deceit used to bring our armed forces in harm's way will result in a different war, one like the one being waged in the blogs and editorials of our nation's free speakers.

Well.. I agree.. that there's a runnin scared thing going on right now. Bush's numbers are plummeting and the support of the public for much of the policies and agendas is all but embers ... I fully expect to see a raise in our terror alert any old time.. a war with Iran or some other place.. and God help us... hopefully no diversions of our attention.. *cross fingers*

Funny that the right can get away with calling liberals "a bunch of tree-huggin', latte-drinkin', Volvo drivin' pantywaists," but the moment the left refers to the Republicans as "basically a white, Christian party," there's a great wailing and gnashing of teeth. Seems to me that until we start fighting fire with fire, the old double standard will always apply.

Kevin: Yup, you've got it. We're already gagging and they're still trying to cram more rightwing shit down our throats. The war in Afghanistan (against the Taliban) was totally necessary; the only logical response to 9/11. And we waited 2-3 months to pinpoint exactly who we needed to attack; we didn't go off half-cocked on 9/12 like bin Laden was hoping we'd do.

Iraq is totally separate, and Bush/Rove keeps trying to tie those 2 wars together, so that anyone who disagrees with the war in Iraq is soft on terror and hates the 9/11 victims. It was a shrewd strategy but it's unravelling.

Nariel: Oh yeah, be expecting a terror alert any day now. I've seen Internet rumors that we've already laid the groundwork for an Iranian invasion (I sure hope they're false). I don't know how we'd pay for that; probably just eliminate every government program that isn't related to the Pentagon.

Brother Kenya: It's definitely time to fight fire with fire. It's funny how they pretend to be so outraged whenever Dean speaks his mind. The Right has been motivating their party base for years with these attacks and stereotypes; the Left needs to do more of it so the playing field gets leveled.

Yep Tom.. I've heard the same rumor current.. that there is stuff brewing up between Iran/Israel.. which may put us right in the hot seat. Of course, some time ago.. WRH said.. look for war with Iran in June/July.. so pensively waiting here...

Rove is a true student of Machiavelli that's for sure. All he ever spouts is rhetoric and he never has, to my knowledge, done anything constructive. He is a true relic from the age of Goebbels and Lenin. That is why he is so skillful in his political spinning and propaganda. Heir Rovesfuhrer should look closely at the fate of his models: they were all defeated by Democracy. His idea for rhetorical Republican domination is already failed and time will lea d to its demise.

Nariel: Well, then if we invade any time in the next 33 days, we'll be right on schedule. That'll be 2/3 of the Axis of Evil. I don't think North Korea has any oil, so they should be safe.

Kitchen Window Woman: Oh yeah, it's a Bush family tradition all right. Rove is just a more refined and more skillful version of Lee Willie Horton Atwater.

That's what I've read too, about pilotless planes flying over Iran in violation of their airspace.

Sar: We definitely need a Karl Rove of our own. Someone with Rove's ability to frame and define the issues and paint the opponent into a corner. Clinton had that skill; Gore and Kerry (and their campaign staff) didn't.

OK Democrat: Rove's gimmicks and spinning tactics have a limited shelf life. It's been working, but too much damaging news has leaked out (in spite of the "media" and not because of it) and millions of citizens are becoming more informed. And they're not liking what they've learned. When the Rove machine falls it's gonna fall hard.

John, that's the problem with Republicans. The entire Republican myth is that they are out to protect the great American past. In the mean time, Republicans sell us down the river to big business and big religion and the old America dies or becomes severely wounded. This rhetoric from the GOP side IS being noticed by the public more and more. While the public may see Democrats as only an alternative, they ARE the alternative. Republicans shouldn't forget that Kerry won an astounding amount of support last year and only lost by 3%. The GOP doesn't have a mandate. What it has is a short leash that will be yanked tighter the more crap they pull.

John: Liberals weren't ready to go to war in Afghanistan, and needed more proof about bin Laden??? I don't which liberals you're talking about. At that time I was living in a very liberal part of Northern California, and I didn't know one person who wasn't in a whitehot fury over 9/11 and bin Laden and the Taliban. The vast vast majority of Americans were in favor of toppling the Taliban. Bush was hugely popular during the war against the Taliban, both in the US and worldwide. He blew it all with his Iraqi invasion.

OK Democrat: Unfortunately Big Business is pretty much calling the shots. The Democrats are slightly less in their pockets than Republicans; they're the lesser of 2 evils (barely). But Republicans keep putting out this myth that they're the only ones who can protect us, and too many people keep buying it. Hopefully not for much longer.

Hardigan: Oh yeah, we'll be hearing a lot of these history rewrites over the next few weeks. And we definitely need a lot more Yellow Elephants to head on over there and look for those WMDs.

Sociopaths do not feel the same emotions others do-they know no guilt, they have no empathy for others, and they get by in life by mimicing what they see other people doing.

BTK and Bundy took their victims out one at a time for self-gratification purposes-had they made it into politics, we may well have seen them behave much the same way Rove does. Karl takes his victims out by the hundreds. And he will be forever compelled to take more victims out in a futile attempt to fill that hole that's inside him.